Good NY Times piece describing the setbacks for healthcare legislation this week. Basically, proposed changes are being assessed at higher costs than previously thought, leaving proponents scrambling to figure out ways to pay for it (or more things to cut to lower the cost), and giving opponents the obvious fodder.

Hard to tell yet though how serious this is. A legislation process like this one is a long one with lots of ups and downs. But the thing that's becoming increasingly clear is that Obama is going to have to jump in here at some point and bust some heads. That and he needs to get out around the country and give speeches and build support.

On health care, the public remains open to persuasion. Without being told anything specific about the Obama plan in the survey, about a third of people said it's a good idea, about a third said it's a bad idea and the rest had no opinion. When given several details of his approach, 55% said they favored it, versus 35% who were opposed.

That isn't quite high enough. He's got to get that number north of 60. If you're north of 60, senators listen. If you're not, they won't take any chances. It's how these people think.